


Sometime, if we survive.

by ConvenientAlias



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Gen, Interspecies Relationship(s), M/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-06 02:12:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19053151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConvenientAlias/pseuds/ConvenientAlias
Summary: In which Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill's morning is interrupted by the arrival of an older version of himself.





	Sometime, if we survive.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [primeideal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/primeideal/gifts).



The older version of Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill appeared in the pasture in the early morning hours, while the younger version of Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, along with his parents, was still grazing. They were all pretty startled. He blinked into existence, after all, and none of them recognized him immediately. Aximili’s parents whipped their tails to his neck and demanded an explanation.

Ax (he said to call him Ax, a bastardization that Aximili was slightly indignant at but reluctantly accepted) stood very still and calm except for his eye stalks, which darted here and there, fastening themselves first on the meadow, then on their parents, then on Aximili, then started all over with the meadow again. He offered a very simple explanation.

<I beg pardon for the intrusion. My team and I had recently discovered a time-travelling device, and we were working to defuse its effects as it poses a danger to the time stream and could easily fall into the hands of the enemy. This is not the first time we have accidentally triggered it in the process, but I believe its effects will only last for a few hours. If I could accept your hospitality for this time…>

Aximili’s mother said, <How can we know you are really our son?> She had one eye on Aximili even as she was looking at Ax. The similarities were undeniable, from the patterning of their coats to the shape of their faces to the color of their eyes. But that meant nothing. Morphing technology getting into the hands of the enemy was at least as plausible as time travel, and frankly, more so.

<You cannot know for certain. But you may ask me any question you wish.>

It was good procedure, the kind of thing they used in the army when people feared infiltration. Aximili felt vaguely proud of Ax’s quick thinking, as well as his calm. With two blades to his own throat, he could only hope he would behave the same—well, at least in the future, he clearly would…

Aximili’s father asked him several questions. At first a couple about his current level of training in the military (Aximili was only out currently on break, being in the aristh program), then, deciding that any enemy would have done at least this much reconnaissance, questions concerning childhood memories, favorite songs and stories, miscellanea. Ax answered them all with little hesitation.

<It seems to be him,> Aximili’s father admitted.

His mother said, <There is no way to know for certain.>

<We do not have any classified information or anything the Yeerks could hold in value. There would be no reason for them to infiltrate our home.>

<You are probably right.>

Cautiously, they both lowered their tails. Ax said, <Thank you for your trust.> He stepped away from them a little. Cantered a bit restlessly, then sat down. <Well. I do not expect to be here long, but it is good to be home.>

<Have you been away for long?> Aximili asked. He had been keeping quiet for too long. This event concerned him, and he was bursting with curiosity and excitement. <Are you stationed far from here? Where are you stationed?>

<I can’t give you too much information. It would upset the timeline. But yes,> Ax said, <I have been stationed far away for… a long time.>

He looked all around the meadow, at the grass and the tree-line at some distance. Contemplative. <I have missed my home.>

Now they all asked him more personal questions, about the future rather than the past. Aximili, of course, asked the most. Who did he work with? Did he work with Elfangor? Had they gained any honors in battle? What battles had he been in? Were they close, in the future, to conquering the Yeerks?

Ax mostly did not answer in any detail. But yes, he had seen battle. He worked with a good team, he said, and they did their best every day to defeat the Yeerks. He did not say to what extent they had succeeded.

Aximili asked him, <Who is our prince?> This was a matter of great importance. Elfangor always said that having a bad prince was worse than having no prince at all—the second state was something of an impossibility for a warrior, but Aximili took his point.

<Our prince… he is a good prince,> Ax said. <And we have a shorm, too. I am also… courting someone. Sort of.>

Aximili was intrigued. However, this was as much information as Ax would give him. To more detailed inquiries, he said, <My team and I have done far worse things to preserve the timeline than deny a young fool’s curiosity.>

<Why do you call me a fool?>

<I remember being you,> Ax said. <You worship Elfangor and long for war. But you do not know what war truly is, yet.>

* * *

From the Animorphs’ perspective, only a few minutes passed between triggering Ax’s disappearance (by accident) and his return. He looked worn out, though, and Jake patted him on the back.

“Where did you go? The past in this location, or a visit to your past self?” They’d been arguing over which the device did—an earlier incident with Rachel had been inconclusive—but with Ax, there could be no mistake. His past self, after all, would have been on another planet.

<Past self,> Ax said. <The device can transcend both time and space. It seems to track a person, perhaps by their genetics?>

“Well, we could experiment,” Marco said sarcastically, “and keep on sending people into the past one by one, and see if we catch any Yeerks’ attention in the process. Sounds exciting.”

Jake sent him a quelling look. “We’d already decided to hide it or destroy it. Group vote: do we think it needs to be destroyed?”

No one had a very strong opinion. On the one hand, in Yeerk hands a tool like this could be very dangerous. On the other hand, none of them were sure how to destroy the device safely. It apparently contained some sort of dangerous compound that was causing the time travel—if it was destroyed, the compound might be released into the environment with chaotic effect.

So they had to hide it. Cassie and Marco were delegated with finding a place to bury it, and soon departed. Rachel and Tobias headed out too, for less official activities.

Jake, though, lingered with Ax. “You seem kind of shaken.”

<It is not every day one sees one’s past self. Or… one’s homeland.>

“It must be painful,” Jake said. “To see it for a couple hours, and then have to come right back here.”

<While I was there,> Ax said, <I found myself eager to return. It was not my real home. Just a shadow, that is now gone. But my parents seemed happy to see me, after they ascertained it really was me.>

Jake knew the last time Ax had spoken to his parents in reality, they had asked him why he had not yet killed Visser Three and avenged Elfangor. They had been cold, angry. And even that communication had been a long time ago now.

He stroked Ax’s fur soothingly and let him talk about what he had seen. When he was done, he said, “You did a good job keeping quiet about the future.”

<Hmph. I was not impressed by my past self very much.>

If Jake could have gone to the past, he wasn’t sure he would have been able to stop himself from telling his past self to protect Tom. To keep him away from the Sharing. That would alter the timeline a good deal, he knew. As for Ax, he must have wanted to say something to protect Elfangor. But that would have changed everything too. Jake wondered if it might have changed things for the better.

It would have changed things for the better, maybe, to let the dinosaurs walk the Earth with no humans in existence. But this was the world they had; they protected it.

There were some elements of it, at least, that Jake thought were pretty good. Like that all of this had brought him and Ax together. He kissed Ax on the cheek.

<That is not fair when I have no lips to reciprocate.>

“Just accept it, Ax. I’m glad you got back safely.”

<As I said, I am glad to be back as well.> Ax said nothing for a moment. Then, <Will you go to the Andalite home planet with me someday?>

“We did once, by accident.”

<I mean when the war is over. I would like you to meet my parents.>

“I’ll do my best then.” Of course, before making any visiting plans, he’d have to do his best to survive. They all would.

**Author's Note:**

> To primeideal: I know nothing about FTL so it's just an Animorphs fanfic but it's been real.


End file.
